The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, according to
The Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile

The Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile,
which has been recently published by Medieval
& Renaissance Texts & Studies, is one
of the most important narrative sources for the history of the kingdoms of
Castile and Leon from the thirteenth century. The anonymous author (or
authors) began writing this chronicle before 1230, with the work ending around
1236. The content of this work, divided in to seventy-five chapeters,
deals with events dating back to the tenth century, but most of this chronicle
focuses on the reigns of the Castilian kings Alfonso VIII (1158-1214) and
Fernando III (1217-1252). Several campaigns and battles are described,
including the battles of Alarcos (1195) and Muret (1213) and the siege of
Cordoba in 1236. The text given below deals with the battle of Las Navas
de Tolosa, which took place on July 16, 1212, and the subsequent sieges and
campaign of Alfonso VIII. Las Navas de Tolosa represented a major victory
for the Christian forces in Spain, and within fifty years most of the Muslim
lands in Spain had fallen to Castilian forces. Click
here for two other accounts of this battle.

Chapter 24: The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 16 July
1212

Then the Christians arose after midnight, the hour at which
Christ, whom they worshipped, rose up victorious over death. After hearing the
solemnities of masses, and being renewed by the life-giving sacrament of the
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, our God, they fortified themselves with the sign
of the cross. They quickly took up their weapons of war, and with joy rushed to
the battle as if they were invited to a feast. Neither the broken and stony
places, nor the hollows of the valleys nor the steep mountains held them back.
They advanced on the enemy prepared to die or to conquer.

In the first rank at the side of
the glorious king was his noble, faithful, and powerful vassal Diego Lopez, and
with him, Sancho Femandez, son of Fernando, king of Leon and his sister [Diego
Lopez's] Urraca, his son, Lope Diaz, and his other relatives, friends and
vassals. At the side of the king of Aragon, Garcia Romero, a noble, energetic,
and faithful man, commanded the first rank; with him were many other noble and
powerful Aragonese. Now the other ranks were arranged on the right and the left
as the order of battle requires. The kings commanded the last ranks, each
separately from the other. For his part the king of Navarre had a line nobly
prepared with arms and men, so that whoever passed before his sight [ . . . ]
would not return even if they walked.

Those lined up in the first ranks discovered that the Moors were ready
for battle. They attacked, fighting against one another, hand-to-hand, with
lances, swords, and battle-axes; there was no room for archers. The Christians
pressed on; the Moors repelled them; the clashing and tumult of arms was heard.
The battle was joined, but neither side was overcome, although at times they
pushed back the enemy, and at other times they were driven back by the enemy.

At one point certain wretched
Christians who were retreating and fleeing cried out that the Christians were
overcome. When the glorious and noble king of Castile, who was prepared rather
to die than to be conquered, heard that cry of doom, he ordered the man who
carried his standard before him, to spur his horse and hasten quickly up the
hill where the force of the battle was; he did so at once. When the Christians
came up, the Moors thought that new waves had come upon them and fell back,
overcome by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The king of Morocco, who was
sitting in the midst of his men surrounded by warriors chosen for battle, got up
and mounted a horse or a mare, and turned tail and fled. His men were killed and
slaughtered in droves, and the site of the camp and the tents of the Moors
became the tombs of the fallen. Those who escaped from the battle wandered
scattered about the mountains like sheep without a shepherd; wherever they were
found, they were slaughtered.

Chapter 25: The Advance to Ubeda and Baeza

Who can count how many thousands of Moors fell that day and
descended into the depths of hell? On the Christian side very few were killed
that day. The Christians could sing with the psalmist: "Lord, Lord, my God,
who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war; my mercy and my refuge,
my defender and my deliverer," et cetera.

Satiated with the spilling of
Moorish blood, and tired by the weight of arms and the heat and great thirst,
the Christians, as evening was already falling, returned to the Moorish camp and
rested there that night; there they found an abundance of food which they
needed. Then breaking camp, they advanced farther on; discovering that the noble
castle of Vilches was evacuated and abandoned, they entered and fortified it.
They also seized Banos and Tolosa and Ferral. Then they went on and besieged Ubeda,
where they found a countless multitude of Moors shut up inside.

Deserting other cities such as
Baeza, which they found to be empty, and other neighboring towns, they [the
Moors] had all flooded into Ubeda, a stronger place and more suitable for their
defense. But that throng shut up inside was heavy and burdensome to themselves
and because of great crowding, they almost died.

The Moors saw the power of the
Christians, who were already prevailing against them, vigorously attacking them;
they also understood that they lacked any counsel and aid because the king of
Morocco had fled to Seville and was prepar–ing to cross [the Strait of
Gibraltar]. They delivered themselves into the hands of the glorious king and
the king of Aragon, under such an agreement that, although their lives were
saved, they and all their goods would become booty for their enemies. As
reported by some of the Moors themselves who were then captured in the town and
were believed to know the number of those within, almost 100,000 Saracens,
including children and women, were captured there. All the movable goods and
precious objects found there were given to the king of Aragon and to those who
had come with him to the battle. He also took many Moors with him as captives.
That cursed multitude, which was shut up in the town, was dispersed and
distributed through all the lands of the Christians, although so few from
different parts of the world took part in that glorious and triumphant battle.

They proposed to move on farther,
but God, whose will no one can resist, seemed to prevent it. For the judgments
of God are hidden. Perhaps the
Christians were somewhat elated and full of pride on account of the victory in
that battle, which they ought to have attributed to God alone and not to
themselves. Now when they had
stayed for a few days in the siege of that town, a multiple variety of
illnesses, and especially flux of the stomach [diarrhea], afflicted so many
Christians that there were few healthy ones, who, if need be, could defend them
against the enemy. Also at that time there was such great mortality among those
who had remained apart from the battle that in the autumn a great number of the
elderly and the aged in the towns and cities reached the end of life.

Therefore, seeing that there
was no way that they could advance farther, the kings took counsel and diligent
deliberation. It seemed to almost everyone that they should return to their
land. So they broke down part of the wall of the town and burned the houses, and
chopped down the trees and vines that they could cut down; they also left Baeza
in desolation. They fortified the castles mentioned above with men, arms, and
other necessities, and returned home with victory, honor, and much booty.

Then the glorious king restored to
the king of Navarre, who had come to his aid, although with a few men, certain
of those castles that the noble king had seized in the kingdom of Navarre. After
conquering and overthrowing a very proud enemy, the glorious and noble king was
received in Toledo with exultation and joy by all the people, who cried out
saying: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

At the time of this noble triumph,
when the Catholic kings and their vassals risked their lives and kingdoms for
the exaltation of the Christian name, the king of Leon waged war against the
king of Castile, as he had done at the time of the other battle [of Alarcos].
The glorious king, wishing to end his life with honor and glory in the war
against the Moors, did not call to mind what the king of Leon had done, but
wanted to settle amicably with him so that they could help one another against
the Moors.

Chapter 26: The Capture of Alcantara and the Siege of Baeza

In the meantime, while peace was being discussed, around
the beginning of Lent following the battle, the glorious king, whose entire
purpose it was, took with him a few knights, his household guards, and certain
of the townsmen from Trasierra, and went to the castle of Duenas, which is now
called Calatrava la Nueva; he took it and kept it. Then he took Eznavexore, a
place now called Santiago; it is a castle of the friars of the Knighthood of
Santiago near Montiel.

Then with the few men who were
with him he besieged the noble castle of Alcaraz, which was something to be
wondered at. However, after Lord Diego and certain other magnates came up the
siege was strengthened. The [castle] was attacked forcefully and powerfully with
marvelous machines. At length, by the grace of God, it surrendered to the
glorious king, saving the lives of the Moors who were there at that time. On the
feast of the Ascension, after purging the filthiness of the Moors who abandoned
the town, the glorious king was received in the town with a solemn procession by
the archbishop of Toledo; on the same day the archbishop celebrated mass there.

Next the noble king captured
another castle strongly fortified by nature, called Riopar, between Segura and
Alcaraz. Then with honor and glory he returned to the area of Guadalajara around
the feast of Pentecost.

From there he set out on his
journey to the land of Castile. His sole and great desire was to end his last
days against the Saracens for the exaltation of the name of Jesus Christ; but he
saw that the king of Leon presented a great impediment to such a holy and
laudable purpose. Giving many stipends to the nobles and great gifts to the
magnates, he summoned an incalculable host of people so that the king of Leon,
stricken at least with fear, would make peace with the glorious king and, if he
did not wish to help him against the Moors, at least would not interfere with
him. Peace was thus established between the kings, through the mediation of
Diego, and Pedro Femandez was expelled from both kingdoms. For
his part the king of Leon was bound to invade the land of the Moots; and so he
did.

Fearing the inconstancy of the
king of Leon, however, the glorious king as–signed his vassal Lord Diego to
him; he followed him with at least six hundred knights. They then attacked
Alcantara and took it, fortified it, and kept it. They then encamped before Merida. While the king of Leon
remained there for some days with his army, he then returned to his kingdom,
despite Lord Diego's opposition and arguments to the contrary.

In view of the inconstancy and
weakness of the king of Leon, the glorious king's noble vassal, who had heard
that his lord, the glorious king, had also besieged Baeza (which had already
been rebuilt and its walls repaired), did not wish to return to his land without
his lord. Instead he traveled through deserted moun–tains and rough forest
places, passing by the castles of the Moors, who opposed and resisted him; but
he reached his lord, the glorious king, at the town mentioned above, where the
siege was already established.

At the time when the king of
Leon, or rather Lord Diego, captured Alcantara, the glorious and noble king had
recently risen from his sickbed, where he had almost been at death's door.
Although he could not ride at all by himself without the help of someone on whom
he could support himself, he went to Toledo. With the very firm intention of
ending his life in time of war in the land of the Moors, he besieged the town of
Baeza with a few nobles and a few men from the people of the cities and other
towns. This was done at the beginning of the month of December, and the siege
lasted until after the feast of the Purification [2 February 1214]. But lacking
food and other necessities for the army, the noble king was forced to withdraw
from the siege and to return to his land.

Indeed, so great was the shortage
of food during that expedition that the meat of asses and horses was sold very
dearly in the market. In fact, in that year there was such a famine in the
kingdom of Castile, especially in Trasierra and Extremadura, as had never been
seen or heard in those lands since ancient times. Indeed, people died en masse,
so that there was hardly anyone to bury them.

A truce was then established
between the king of Morocco and the noble king of Castile. Indeed, there
remained in the kingdom of Castile few horses and few other beasts of burden; a
great number of people died, consumed by hunger. The Moors, on the contrary, had
a great abundance of horses, wheat, barley, oil, and various other kinds of
foods. Thus the land was quiet, and the king rested and at the next Lent
returned to Castile where he remained until the beginning of the following
September.